Introductions
by Reading Redhead
Summary: [Trade Pact Universe - Julie E. Czerneda] Human telepath Jaron Hazard is in charge of the interns who come to Plexis for business experience. But he's never ran into one this interesting before... One-shot; complete.


Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot and the arrangement of words on the page.  The Trade Pact Universe books are written by Julie E. Czerneda; all credit goes to her for the creation of this wonderful universe, not me.

A/N: This is just a one-shot based off of a discussion my friend (she's Jasen Morgan on Fanfiction) had today.  No spoilers I can think of, though it won't make sense at all if you haven't read the Trade Pact Universe books by Julie E. Czerneda.

Introductions

            Jaron Hazard walked calmly through the twisting, commotion-filled corridors of Plexis.  The vendors on all sides called out at him, and he could distinguish several languages other than the widely-spoken comspeak.  Most stopped trying to sell him their wares when they saw that the air tag on his cheek was blue, marking him as a low-budget or noncustomer, neither of which was usual in this section of the station, near its center.  The rest of the beings that flooded the halls had no reason to be interested in a Human male of average height with brown hair and eyes, unless he ran into any of them or disturbed their purchases in any way.

            Jaron had made his way though this section of Plexis countless times in the past few years, since he'd come to work as part of the management that helped run the station.  Generally, you had to be family or close friend to the supermarket's founder, Raj Plexis, but Jaron had been neither when the head of Plexis Supermarket had advertised an intern position for anyone interested in space-related business.  Knowing that it was exactly what he wanted, Jaron had taken the next ship from his homeworld to Plexis and shown up to talk to the management in person.  Apparently, they'd been impressed; he'd gotten the internship, and after that, a steady job.  Though he might not have been a friend of Raj Plexis earlier, he certainly felt he was closer now, especially because of the innovative new ideas he'd brought to the management of this supermarket.

            In fact, the intern program had been so successful in acquiring him for the Plexis staff that Raj Plexis had decided to make it a permanent fixture.  Jaron was on his way to meet the newest of the interns now.  Though the job was open to all species, there had only been one non-Human intern previously.  This newest intern was no exception; Human, and female, from what Jaron remembered.  He would be getting to know her a bit better than that over the next few weeks; Raj had put him in charge of acclimating all the new interns to their jobs, adding this to his other duties.

            Jaron stopped outside the door to the management offices at the center of the station, waiting politely as a pair of Lanivarians exited before he walked in.

            The reception area inside was sparse, not needing to impress anyone since the only people who ever entered worked for the station in some way or another.  He detached his air tag and gave it to the secretary, who smiled at him and put it in the drawer where the spare tags were kept.  Jaron walked down the hallway behind her desk, towards his office.

            He entered to find the intern already inside, sitting silently in one of the chairs in front of his desk.  She rose when he entered, and stood.

            Jaron took a minute to survey the Human.  She was tall, the same height as him, though Jaron couldn't tell if that was her natural height or if she was wearing tall shoes.  Other than that, she was nothing spectacular, with brownish-blond hair and eyes that didn't seem to know if they were blue or green. 

            She spoke.  "Hello, I'm Leksey D. Teerac, the new intern.  The receptionist told me to wait for you here.  And you are Hom Hazard?"

            "You can call me Jaron," Jaron said, extending a hand for Leksey to shake. 

            From the moment that she took his hand in her own, Jaron knew something was wrong.  He was being pulled into blackness with a sickening speed, lights whirling behind his eyelids.  He felt the touch of her hand as a beacon within the chaos, at once calling him closer and battling to keep him away.

            Startled, he broke the contact immediately and reeled back.  He opened his eyes, seeing Leksey sink down into the chair, breathing hard.  Nothing about her showed that she knew what had happened.

            Still, Jaron was suspicious.  "What _was_ that?" he asked her, circling the desk and sitting gratefully in his own chair.

            "I don't know," she said, still appearing stunned.

            Jaron wasn't convinced.  Tentatively, wary about using his Power, he reached out, trying to sense the emotions of the female across from him.

            Nothing.

            Well, not nothing.  His mind told him that there was someone there.  It just also told him that that someone was not feeling any emotion at all, something Jaron could not believe.  _She must be a telepath, too,_ he thought, realizing the lack of information to be a result of highly sophisticated mental shielding; better than his, anyway.

            This still did not explain the reaction he had had to her touch.  Though he could detect other telepaths in the area, Jaron had never had such a violent reaction to one before, especially not when he wasn't trying to sense for others.  No, this Leksey was hiding something.

            _That's okay,_ he thought.  _I won't get it out of her by asking.  _Instead of continuing his questioning, he looked across the desk at the shaken-looking intern.

            "Well," he said, smiling, "you've sure got one heck of a handshake."


End file.
